The Beasts of Upton Puddle (25 page)

“She'll be all right. We just need to cure her hiccups. It's why she's here.”

Joe wanted desperately to ask a million questions about the new creature but could not bring himself to show any enthusiasm to Heinrich. “Good. Can you take me to my room now? I'm really tired. It's past four in the morning.”

“Of course.” Heinrich checked around, as if to see what else he needed to do first. “But don't expect me to be in when you wake up unless I have found Ronnie. I will make sure everything is secure before I go, but I will also leave a list of things that will need to be done in case I am back late. Can I count on you?”

“Me?” Joe laughed, unable to mask his bitterness. “I'm not the . . .”

“Not the what?”

Joe looked away. “Nothing.”

“You've been different since I returned. Is it something I've done?”

Joe stared at Heinrich again, rage bubbling like lava. Should he confront him? Now, while Heinrich had no idea he knew about the deception, he seemed to be safe. But would that be the case if he challenged Heinrich? If the old man turned on him, would anyone jump to his aid?

“No,” said Joe eventually. “I'm just tired.”

Exhausted from the most eventful Saturday of his life, Joe slept through most of Sunday. He'd locked himself in one of the bedrooms of Merrynether Mansion and fallen into a deep sleep, oblivious to whatever was happening in the vault.

Together with Cornelius and Danariel, Heinrich was out for most of the day looking for Mrs. Merrynether. In the late afternoon, Heinrich returned, pale and haggard. With few words, he sent Joe home.

Joe was glad he didn't have to make conversation with him. He might even have felt sorry for him if he didn't know Heinrich was a traitor. Yet it was a mystery why Heinrich had such great concern for the person he had betrayed for so long. And why would he want to sabotage the practice he seemed to love so much?

Unfortunately, Joe was not the only one with questions. His mother drilled him for more than thirty
minutes, wanting to know why he hadn't told her he'd be spending the weekend with the Duggans. While Joe was grateful for Kiyoshi's lie, answering her questions proved to be very difficult.

With the dawn of Monday, Joe woke at home feeling fresh resolve to get some answers, but first he had to survive another difficult day. Persuading his mum to let him go for tea at Kurt Duggan's house was hard enough, especially since he'd apparently spent the weekend there, but convincing Kurt was going to be much more of an ordeal. Nevertheless, no matter how nervous he felt or how hard the beating would be if things went wrong, Joe had to try. Mrs. Merrynether's safety depended on him.

Morning break came with the noisy rabble pouring out of the double doors to the school grounds. The cliques separated into their habitual huddles, some running to the playing fields, others to the common room. Kurt Duggan and his mob headed for their usual haunt.

Joe pulled a plastic bottle from his rucksack and examined the viscous, yellow gloop inside. “Here goes,” he said to himself and poured the stuff into his mouth. Choking back the burning in his throat and wiping his watery eyes, Joe chased his nemesis. He didn't know how long the effect of the kappa juice would last, but hopefully it would see him through the next few minutes.

When the rest of the school was out of sight, Joe made his move. “Hey, Duggan! I need a minute alone.”

The whole crowd stopped and turned to look at Joe. Duggan stood at the center, arms folded, face deadly serious while the others grinned and skulked like jackals waiting for a chance to pick at a carcass.

The thug sneered, waved a dismissive hand, and turned around, uninterested.

It wasn't the response Joe had hoped for.

He watched them walk on, his heart drumming harder as he psyched himself up.

“Now!” Joe shouted.

They stopped again.

This time Duggan's ape face was a hybrid of rage and surprise. “You what?”

“We need to talk.”

“I need to smoke.
You
need to disappear before I fill that loud gob of yours with this.” He raised a fist.

“It's about the map.”

One of the jackals looked up at Duggan. “Map?”

“Forget it . . .” Duggan told him. “It's nothing.”

“What's the matter, Kurt? Scared what they might do if they find out about your little secret?”

The bully's teeth flashed as he grinned with rage. “All right, you asked for it.” He waved the others off and advanced on Joe.

The gang hesitated but left anyway.

“You think I'm stupid?” Duggan grabbed Joe by the shirt collar. “I know there's no map. There's no way you'd have kept it from me, not with the kicking you've
been getting every day.”

Duggan's knuckles pressed against Joe's chin as he tightened his grip.

“You're right. There's no map, but you've still got the key, right?”

“So?”

“So don't you want to know what it opens?”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“Yes, but there's something I want in return.”

“No deal.” Duggan dropped him and turned his back.

The tingling sensation in Joe's limbs faded as the thug walk away. A cold wave of nausea hung in his stomach. Time was already running out.

“I knew you were a loser,” Joe said.

“Whatever.”

Joe's legs began to buckle, but he chased Kurt and planted a fist squarely into the bully's back. “See? Loser.”

That did it. Duggan turned and swung, exactly as Joe had been hoping for. The effects of the kappa juice had almost faded, but Joe caught Duggan's fist and twisted it in one lightning-fast reaction. Duggan sank to his knees with a frustrated cry as Joe held him there.

“Listening now?” said Joe, hoping Duggan wouldn't pay attention to his quaking legs or the sheen on his forehead.

“You're gonna get such a kicking when I get up,” Duggan grunted.

Joe twisted a little more. His strength was
waning, but it was still enough.

“All right,” yelled Duggan. “What d'you want?”

“What time does your dad get home from work?”

“Why?”

“Just answer me.” Joe twisted a little more, his strength faltering.

Duggan winced all the same. “Just after four. Why?”

“I'm coming round for tea tonight.”

“Eh?”

“I said I'm coming round for tea. Six o'clock. Got it?”

“Okay. Okay!”

Joe let go, and Duggan fell backward, his face a picture of confusion. He didn't say another word as he stood and jogged to his cronies, rubbing his wrist and frowning at Joe every few paces the whole way.

At six o'clock, Joe knocked on Duggan's door.

“Who's that?” came a screech from within. “Kurt? Get the door.”

The door opened, and Kurt Duggan slouched in the doorway with a sour expression that changed instantly to shock when he saw Joe's face.

“You!”

“Yes, me. I'm here for my tea.”

“But . . . I thought—”

“Kurt?” screamed a female voice. “Who is it? If that's your dad and he's forgotten his keys again, he can sod off!”

Kurt said nothing as his mother's slippered feet stomped toward them. Bright makeup that looked like it had been applied with a trowel exaggerated her contoured features. Her beehive peroxide hair brushed the top of the door frame when she approached, and a half-smoked cigarette waggled between her chapped lips as she said, “You selling something?” She looked at the large lantern he held.

“No, I'm a friend of Kurt's. He invited me for tea this evening.” Joe offered the lantern, which began radiating a soft blue light through the patterned glass. “This is a present for you. It's a sort of night-light.”

She took it. “Aw, ain't that lovely? Ain't that lovely, Kurt? Come inside, love, and have a sit-down in the kitchen. Don't mind the mess. Kurt never told me we was having company tonight.”

She cuffed her son as they entered the house. A TV blared an Australian soap opera from the room next to the kitchen. Two cats screamed near Joe's legs as he sat at the table crowded with magazines, cups, and clothes.

“I didn't mean to be an inconvenience, Mrs. Duggan.”

Mrs. Duggan admired the lantern in her hand. “Don't you worry, love. Kurt hardly ever brings his friends home. And you seem such a nice boy. What are you doing spending time with an idiot like him?”

“Mum!”

“I'll put this upstairs,” she said. “It'll look nice on the windowsill.”

Joe smiled to himself as she started up the stairs. Everything was going perfectly so far. When the lantern was in place, Danariel would pop out and look for a security pass that might let them into the secret areas of Redwar Industries. If she managed to find something, she would take it and then roll the lantern to the floor, creating a loud thud: the signal. Whoever found the lantern would see it pulsing and flashing as if it had short-circuited, and Joe would offer to take it home and fix it. That was the plan, but where was Kurt's dad? There was no chance of this working if Mr. Duggan was still at work with his security pass.

“I didn't get anything extra for dinner, but there are some frozen pizzas we can have,” Mrs. Duggan called from upstairs. “Would that be all right, love?”

“Perfect,” Joe yelled back.

Kurt glared, and Joe thought at any moment the bully's head might pop off to reveal a jet of steam.

“Mmmm, I love pizza.”

Kurt growled but sucked it back in when his mother appeared again.

“Clear the table,” she ordered her son. “And stick four pizzas in the oven. Your dad can have his warmed up when he gets in.”

“But—”

“No buts. You do as you're bloody told. You can play on that PlayStation with your friend until your fingers fall off
after
you've done that but not a second before. And
you'd better keep that noise down too—I'm watching the telly.”

Duggan threw Joe a sadistic grin, apparently thinking they'd soon be alone, but Joe had other plans.

“Can I watch the TV with you, Mrs. Duggan?”

She raised her thickly lined eyebrows. “Really? Ah, bless him. Of course you can, love. Come in and sit down.”

Joe followed her into the smoggy living room and sat in the armchair.

Kurt clattered in the kitchen, and Joe hoped his enemy hadn't done something hideous to his pizza. For the next twenty minutes, the crashing in the kitchen continued to escalate, competing with the TV as Mrs. Duggan gradually turned up the volume.

Kurt eventually appeared in the living room doorway. “Grub up.”

“About bloody time,” said Mrs. Duggan.

The three of them sat around the table, and Joe examined his food as carefully and as secretly as possible. He hoped by now Danariel had found something that would help them, but so far there had been no signal. He poked at his food and felt Duggan watching him, waiting for that first bite. The two cats sat either side of Joe's chair, waiting expectantly for treats.

“So . . . er . . .” Mrs. Duggan sparked up a cigarette.

“Joe . . . Joe Copper.”

“Right.” She puffed smoke across the table. “So, Joe, you
look like a clever one. Kurt getting you to do his homework for him, is he?”

“I wouldn't let that little runt near any of my stuff,” said Kurt.

“That's no way to talk about your friend.” She cuffed him around the head with her cigarette hand. A clump of ash landed in his hair.

“Don't take any notice of him, love. You just enjoy your dinner.”

Joe took a reluctant bite of his pizza and almost gagged.

Kurt smirked.

There was no doubt—something offensive had been added to the sweet corn and peppers. He cut into another piece and tried to ignore Kurt's expression of glee as the fork approached his mouth.

The front door slammed. Joe was saved. As Kurt and his mum turned to look, Joe emptied the plate onto the floor and watched the cats move in for a feast.

“Bloody place,” a male voice shouted from the door. Mr. Duggan stormed into the kitchen and threw a bunch of keys on the table. It came as no surprise to Joe that he looked like a larger version of Kurt.

“What time do you call this? You're almost three hours late, and your dinner's burnt,” shrieked Mrs. Duggan.

“Don't you start, woman. If you must know, I just got the sack.”

“The sack? Oh, that's just abso-bloody-lutely marvelous. What did you go and do to get the elbow, Scott Duggan?”

“Me? It wasn't me. They had a break-in this weekend. Some vandals got into the building and wiped snot all over Mr. Redwar's portrait. He had the lot of us in his office trying to find out how it could've happened. Would you believe one of them actually said they saw a spaceship in the woods?” He shook his head. “Of course, nobody had an answer, and you know what that git's like. He fired every single one of us. Took all our keys, ID badges, and passes there and then and . . .”